1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a piezoelectric element in which a piezoelectric body is formed on a thin film, a piezoelectric sensor provided with the piezoelectric element, an electronic device, and a method for manufacturing a piezoelectric element.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, there have been known piezoelectric elements (i.e., ultrasound elements) in which piezoelectric bodies are layered on supporting films and the piezoelectric bodies are subjected to a voltage and caused to vibrate, whereby the supporting films are caused to vibrate and ultrasound is produced (e.g., see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2006-229901).
The ultrasound element according to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2006-229901 is provided with a piezoelectric vibrator in which a piezoelectric thin film is sandwiched by metal electrode films on a membrane. According to an ultrasound element of such description, a voltage is applied on an upper-layer and a lower-layer metal electrode film, whereby the piezoelectric thin film is caused to vibrate, the membrane on which the piezoelectric thin film is formed is also caused to vibrate, and ultrasound is produced.